Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Alien 3 (1992)
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
As a first note, I find that the blu-ray menus are a little surreal. Like Weyland is about to take over my TV and everything else I own, including my chest cavity for their little pet project. They've even left a wallpaper on my screen after the film's stopped, and ejected from the tray. Not comforting.
Anyway. This is one of those science fiction universes that if you are not familiar with it, you aren't acquainted with the originator of many standards of space gone wrong. The latter two films, they're not so memorable, and often the fodder of fan critique. Harsh fan critique.
But I'll defend the fourth film individually.
This is not standard gorehound fodder. It's not even really for the science fiction crowd-- too gritty, too low tech. Ellen Ripley is an unwillingly tough hero that narrates us through time and the far reaches of space, and has introduced us to nightmares. Maybe a dog alien is pushing the audiences' suspension of disbelief, and definitely the Ripley-alien hybrid, but what do you expect when people still talk about John Hurt's chest exploding on the dinner table, or quote one of the easily quotable marines?
Even Giger might've scratched his head at topping what the first two films gave the audience. The third film mixed it up a little, changing the people and the setting they get killed in. Throw in some commentary on the state of the prison system and a bald Sigourney Weaver, and you can forgive it for refusing to stop when there was money to be made and more story to tell.
'Resurrection' is a Joss Whedon piece. Go ahead. Watch it again, with 'Firefly' specifically in mind. Hear the quipping that the other three films lack, spot his character types.. and recognise part of the Serenity.
Puts an interesting spin on the whole thing, doesn't it?
It's not a great film. Not even a good one, not really. Building on twenty years of history, Ellen Ripley's story is extended and literally mutated into being in a shinier universe. She's not the same Amazon with awful luck, but a savage, hot hybrid with alien bits enhancing her. The aliens have some of her in them. That, in itself, is a lot to accept after the previous three films.
The biggest problem is that it requires a significant leap of education to appreciate how far the villainous corporation has fallen, and the necessity of the hero to have superhuman powers to win. No more grunts, or prisoners, or panicked cargo crew.
The monster in the end is also, officially, the last alien I'd want to be stuck in a room with. The others-- the facehuggers, the soldiers, the queen-- they're going to attack you, and if you're lucky, kill you quickly. That one peculiar beast, however, is close enough to human to think it tameable, or less dangerous. That's fatal. It does not show you its weakness, or how it fights. There is no time to learn how to defeat it.
For classic horror-- for classic film making-- you watch the first film. For a movie version of a first person shooter game, you choose the second. For a post-apocalyptic jaunt with a side of post modern politics, pick the third.
And for a long shot revival of a story that had already reached its end, written by a god among geeks, and given zero chance to shine amongst its peers because it was never given a chance to, choose the last one.
Or just leave me to enjoy Sigourney rocking those talons. I'll be in my bunk.
Would I watch them again? More so the first one, yes. I also recommend the Rifftrax.
Would I own them? Already do.
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